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Level 1

127 points

Aired Date - US date format only?

Is there a way of showing +Aired Date+ in a date format other than the US one?

US date formats are very confusing and catch you out if you are used to the eminently more sensible DD/MM/YYYY format.

This is particularly annoying when tagging content for the Apple TV with Meta X or Subler, as you have to remember to put the first to two parts of the date in backwards.

I've never understood the US date format as it doesn't flow properly - ie. smallest/bigger/biggest -(the US one is oddly bigger/smallest/biggest)!

iMac 24" 2.8 GHz, Mac OS X (10.6), Time Capsule 1TB; AppleTV 160GB; iPod Touch 2nd Gen 32GB; iMac G5; iMac G3 DV

Posted on Sep 26, 2009 1:18 AM

48 replies

Chenks

Level 5

7,435 points

Sep 26, 2009 5:57 AM in response to Winston Churchill

not sure when the change took place

!http://gallery.me.com/chenks/100027/Appletv_1/web.jpg?ver=12539698290001!

Sep 26, 2009 6:03 AM in response to Chenks

Not sure what you are showing me there.

Chenks

Level 5

7,435 points

Sep 26, 2009 6:08 AM in response to Winston Churchill

"my tv shows"
list of shows showing the varying way dates are displayed.

shows from the current year (in this instance 2009) do not display the year (2009 or 09).
shows from previous years show the full date in US format (even though the date was entered into the meta tags using universal format).

Sep 26, 2009 6:13 AM in response to Chenks

Yep, I did say that initially, what I wasn't sure about was whether the tv:
(1) Generally doesn't show the year for the current year
or
(2) Stopped showing the year after 2008.

So ultimately what I'm not too sure of is whether in 2010, the shows from 2009 will show as 9/26/09 or just 9/26, but I'm tending towards the former.

Message was edited by: Winston Churchill

Chenks

Level 5

7,435 points

Sep 26, 2009 6:21 AM in response to Winston Churchill

yes i believe come 2010, the shows without the year will show 2009.

Easybourne Author

Level 1

127 points

Sep 26, 2009 6:28 AM in response to Chenks

Ah, I remember the 7th of August 1982, that's when Police Squad was first aired....

Chenks

Level 5

7,435 points

Sep 26, 2009 6:29 AM in response to Easybourne

Easybourne wrote:
Ah, I remember the 7th of August 1982, that's when Police Squad was first aired....

joke obviously !

8th July 1982 😀

Easybourne Author

Level 1

127 points

Sep 26, 2009 6:34 AM in response to Easybourne

Anyway, the point is the Apple TV is using the WRONG localisation for the date. It is using the US system and not the correct one for the region in which it is being used.

I wonder what happens on a French Apple TV? Presumably, the language is localised to French, but is the time format changed?

The localisation issue is better with Apple generally than it is with other US companies. Take iTunes 9 for example - they've localised TV Shows to TV Programmes for the UK and 'Films' is used instead of movies. Still, shame about ColorSync but I guess that's a tradename and can't be helped!

Reminds of the adage about the US approach to international diplomacy - its done that same way as they spell Colour - without U.

Easybourne Author

Level 1

127 points

Sep 26, 2009 6:36 AM in response to Chenks

{quote:title=Chenks wrote:}8th July 1982 :D{quote}

Not according to the screen grab posted previously....

Easybourne Author

Level 1

127 points

Sep 26, 2009 6:45 AM in response to Winston Churchill

{quote:title=Winston Churchill wrote:}

On the format issue generally, there is only one recognised international standard and it's neither 26/9/09 nor 9/26/09, it is as Chenks points out which is 2009/09/26, which commences with the largest unit of time and ends with the smallest, and includes preceding zeros where they are needed.
{quote}

I entirely agree that the YYYY/MM/DD system is sensible also as it shows a logical progression from largest to smallest. While it is the exact reverse of the (Mostly) european convention it has perfectly sound logic. The problem is that this system is not the one employed on the Apple TV. The inferior, illogical and just plain wrong (for the UK) US system is applied.

Chenks

Level 5

7,435 points

Sep 26, 2009 6:52 AM in response to Easybourne

Easybourne wrote:

{quote:title=Chenks wrote:}8th July 1982 :D{quote}

Not according to the screen grab posted previously....

look again... it's MM/DD/YYYY (7/8/82).
8th july 1982

Sep 26, 2009 6:59 AM in response to Easybourne

Easybourne wrote:
............The problem is that this system is not the one employed on the Apple TV. The inferior, illogical and just plain wrong (for the UK) US system is applied.

Easybourne Author

Level 1

127 points

Sep 26, 2009 7:13 AM in response to Winston Churchill

{quote:title=Winston Churchill wrote:}

I think we have to accept that a company based in the US will use a US system. There are a few options for this, one of which is to put up with it, another is to introduce so many options on the tv that it's interface would become as appalling as many other devices such as the PS3. Another option (and one I would like to see) is an option to customise the tv OS from itunes.
{quote}
Actually, the simplest option for the user would be to have the Apple TV pick up the localisation either from the host computer or the iTunes store account, thereby not requiring any user interface modifications whatever.

Also, I disagree entirely that we should accept a US system on a product that is already partly localised and indeed runs an OS (albeit a stripped down version of one) that is capable of such localisation.

The Apple TV is perfectly capable of negotiating with a localised version of the iTunes store and taking my local currency from my credit card and indeed passing the information on to the iTunes store about WHEN I did it. So, I would suggest that displaying time localisation time and date info is perfectly possible and is probably not done so due to a small oversight and not as large a programming hurdle as you are suggesting.

Alley_Cat

Level 7

20,548 points

Sep 26, 2009 7:46 AM in response to Easybourne

Yes, it should be trivial to implement given the underlying OS support, but if they don't know the problem exists the oversight will continue.

Use the feedback link I gave earlier.

Easybourne Author

Level 1

127 points

Sep 26, 2009 7:50 AM in response to Alley_Cat

{quote:title=Alley_Cat wrote:}
Yes, it should be trivial to implement given the underlying OS support, but if they don't know the problem exists the oversight will continue.

Use the feedback link I gave earlier.

{quote}

Apple.com/feedback was my first port of call before posting on this forum. Thanks anyway.

Aired Date - US date format only?